D2.Psy.17.9-12: How the Areas of Psychology Connect

Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Your hands shake and your heart pounds just before you give a class presentation. Make a list of every kind of expert who could help explain what is happening, and the question each one would ask."

   Pairs list experts for 3 minutes. Collect them on the board as they come: a doctor or biologist (what is the body doing?), a teacher (how was the talk prepared?), a friend in the audience (who was watching?), a parent (has this always happened?), a counselor (is the worry getting in the way?). Then group the questions. Point out that each group of questions belongs to an area of psychology, and that the class needed all of them to explain one moment. That is the idea of this lesson: knowledge in psychology is connected.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Areas of psychology. Psychologists usually specialize. Each area asks its own kind of question, but the areas share topics, methods and findings. The table names six areas used in this lesson; the examples are written for this page.

   Six areas of psychology and the question each asks about nerves before a talk (examples written for this page)

   Area	What it studies	Its question about nerves before a talk
   Biological psychology	How the brain, nerves, hormones and the rest of the body relate to behavior and mental life	What changes in the body, and how fast?
   Cognitive psychology	Attention, memory, thinking and how people interpret a situation	What is the student thinking about the audience?
   Developmental psychology	How people change from infancy through old age	Do nerves before a talk change with age?
   Social psychology	How other people and situations affect a person	Does the size or kind of audience matter?
   Clinical and counseling psychology	Understanding distress and helping people cope	When does worry about speaking call for help?
   Educational psychology	How people learn and how teaching works	What kind of preparation helps?

   Four kinds of connection. (1) A shared topic: one question needs several areas at once. (2) Shared methods and measures: a tool built in one area, such as a pulse reading from physiology or a self-report rating scale, is used in another. (3) Basic and applied research feed each other: basic research asks how the mind works in general; applied research uses psychology in a setting such as a school, a clinic or a workplace; each side supplies questions and evidence to the other. (4) Bridges to other sciences: psychology borrows from and lends to physiology, biology, medicine, education and sociology.

   Read Source 1 and Source 3, two writers from the years when psychology was becoming its own science. As you read, mark each sentence that names two fields together.

   1The physiologists who, during the past few years, have been so industriously exploring the functions of the brain, have limited their attempts at explanation to its cognitive and volitional performances. Dividing the brain into sensorial and motor centres, they have found their division to be exactly paralleled by the analysis made by empirical psychology, of the perceptive and volitional parts of the mind into their simplest elements. But the aesthetic sphere of the mind, its longings, its pleasures and pains, and its emotions, have been so ignored in all these researches that one is tempted to suppose that if either Dr. Ferrier or Dr. Munk were asked for a theory in brain-terms of the latter mental facts, they might both reply, either that they had as yet bestowed no thought upon the subject, or that they had found it so difficult to make distinct hypotheses, that the matter lay for them among the problems of the future, only to be taken up after the simpler ones of the present should have been definitively solved.

   [...]

   2Our natural way of thinking about these standard emotions is that the mental perception of some fact excites the mental affection called the emotion, and that this latter state of mind gives rise to the bodily expression. My thesis on the contrary is that the bodily changes follow directly the PERCEPTION of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur IS the emotion. Common sense says, we lose our fortune, are sorry and weep; we meet a bear, are frightened and run; we are insulted by a rival, are angry and strike. The hypothesis here to be defended says that this order of sequence is incorrect, that the one mental state is not immediately induced by the other, that the bodily manifestations must first be interposed between, and that the more rational statement is that we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and not that we cry, strike, or tremble, because we are sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be. Without the bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form, pale, colourless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run, receive the insult and deem it right to strike, but we could not actually feel afraid or angry.

   [...]

   3If our hypothesis is true, it makes us realise more deeply than ever how much our mental life is knit up with our corporeal frame, in the strictest sense of the term. Rapture, love , ambition, indignation, and pride, considered as feelings, are fruits of the same soil with the grossest bodily sensations of pleasure and of pain. [...]

   [...]

   4Of course, this case proves nothing, but it is to be hoped that asylum-physicians and nervous specialists may begin methodically to study the relation between anaesthesia and emotional apathy. If the hypothesis here suggested is ever to be definitively confirmed or disproved it seems as if it must be by them, for they alone have the data in their hands.

   1Psychology shares with anatomy, physiology, sociology, anthropology, history and the other sciences that concern changes in man's bodily or mental nature the work of providing thinkers and workers in the field of education with knowledge of the material with which they work. Just as the science and art of agriculture depend upon chemistry and botany, so the art of education depends upon physiology and psychology.

   [...]

   2I give only mention to these so as to save space in which to call attention to another relation between psychology and education which is not sufficiently known. The science of education can and will itself contribute abundantly to psychology. Not only do the laws derived by psychology from simple, specially arranged experiments help us to interpret and control mental action under the conditions of school-room life. School-room life itself is a vast laboratory in which are made thousands of experiments of the utmost interest to "pure" psychology. Not only does psychology help us to understand the mistakes made by children in arithmetic. These mistakes afford most desirable material for studies of the action of the laws of association, analysis and selective thinking. Experts in education studying the responses to school situations for the sake of practical control will advance knowledge not only of the mind as a learner under school conditions but also of the mind for every point of view.

   3Indeed I venture to predict that this journal will before many years contain a notable proportion of articles reporting answers to psychological questions got from the facts of educational experience, in addition to its list of papers reporting answers to educational questions got from the experiments of the laboratory.

   • A bridge to physiology: Source 1, paragraph 1

     James opens with the brain research of his day. What gap does he find in it, and which two fields does his article try to join?

     Result: Physiologists had matched their "sensorial and motor centres" to psychology's analysis of perception and will, but the mind's "longings, its pleasures and pains, and its emotions" had been ignored. His article offers a psychological theory of emotion to a brain science that had none of its own: connection type 4, a bridge between psychology and physiology.

   • An applied field built on basic sciences: Source 3, paragraph 1

     What does Thorndike's comparison with agriculture claim about education?

     Result: "Just as the science and art of agriculture depend upon chemistry and botany, so the art of education depends upon physiology and psychology." Education is an applied field that draws on several basic sciences, and psychology shares that work with anatomy, sociology, anthropology and history: connection types 3 and 4.

   • One topic, several areas: Source 4, paragraph 2

     NIMH defines stress as "the physical or mental response to an external cause." Which areas of psychology does that one definition already involve?

     Result: "Physical" response points to biological psychology, "mental" response to cognitive and clinical psychology, and the "external cause," such as "a lot of homework," to the situation, which social and educational psychologists study. No single area owns the topic: connection type 1.

   • Writing a connection statement (invented case)

     Invented case: Priya, 16, forgets her lines in the school play only on the night her grandparents are in the audience. Write a statement that links two areas.

     Result: Social psychology names the situation (one particular audience matters to her); cognitive psychology offers a process to test (attention drawn to that audience may leave less for recalling lines). Statement: the social situation may change a cognitive process, so neither area alone explains the forgetting. It is a hypothesis to test, not a finding.

   Close the segment: Which of the four kinds of connection is hardest to see from inside one area? Accept any answer with a reason. Many students pick type 3, because a researcher in a laboratory may never see the classroom or clinic that uses the result.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Source 5 together. It is an invented study with invented data, written to show how one small question can mix a body measure, a self-report and a fact about preparation. The table below lists the same numbers with each increase worked out.

   1Invented study summary, written for this page. The people and numbers are not real. A speech teacher wanted to see how the body, the mind and the situation work together when students feel nervous before a talk. Twelve volunteers from one high school speech class, all aged 15 or 16, took part. Each had written permission from a parent or guardian, was told they could stop at any time, and was identified only by a letter.

   2Each volunteer's pulse was taken twice with a fingertip pulse meter: once while sitting quietly at the start of class, and once one minute before giving a two-minute talk to the class of 25. Right before the talk, each volunteer also rated "How nervous do you feel right now?" from 1 (calm) to 10 (very nervous), and said whether they had practiced the talk aloud at least twice beforehand. The volunteers decided for themselves whether to practice.

   3Practiced aloud (pulse in beats per minute at rest, then before the talk, and the nervousness rating): B 72 to 84, rating 3; D 68 to 80, rating 4; E 76 to 86, rating 6; H 66 to 72, rating 2; K 62 to 70, rating 3; L 70 to 86, rating 6.

   4Did not practice: A 64 to 78, rating 6; C 80 to 102, rating 9; F 70 to 92, rating 8; G 84 to 98, rating 4; I 74 to 90, rating 7; J 78 to 88, rating 6.

   5The teacher's note: "Every pulse went up before the talk, and on average the pulse of the students who had practiced rose by less. But the students chose whether to practice, there were only twelve of them, and all came from one class, so this is a first look, not proof that practice calms the body."

   Source 5 data (invented): pulse in beats per minute and nervousness rating (1-10)

   Volunteer	Group	Rest	Before talk	Increase	Rating
   B	Practiced	72	84	12	3
   D	Practiced	68	80	12	4
   E	Practiced	76	86	10	6
   H	Practiced	66	72	6	2
   K	Practiced	62	70	8	3
   L	Practiced	70	86	16	6
   A	Did not practice	64	78	14	6
   C	Did not practice	80	102	22	9
   F	Did not practice	70	92	22	8
   G	Did not practice	84	98	14	4
   I	Did not practice	74	90	16	7
   J	Did not practice	78	88	10	6

   1. Group means. Practiced: increases 12, 12, 10, 6, 8 and 16 add to 64, and 64 / 6 is about 10.7 beats per minute. Did not practice: 14, 22, 22, 14, 16 and 10 add to 98, and 98 / 6 is about 16.3 beats per minute.
   2. Which area supplies each measure? The pulse reading comes from physiology and biological psychology. The 1-10 rating is a self-report, the kind of measure cognitive and social psychologists use to learn what a person is experiencing. Practicing aloud is a question of preparation, which educational psychology studies.
   3. Do the two measures agree? Ask students to find the two volunteers with the largest increases and compare their ratings. Both rose by 22 and rated 8 or 9: here the body measure and the self-report point the same way.
   4. Sample. Twelve volunteers from one class can suggest a question but cannot settle it.

   Now read Source 2. Angell gave this paper as his presidential address to the American Psychological Association in December 1906 and published it in 1907. In paragraph 1, "this field" is animal (comparative) psychology. In paragraph 2, "genetic psychology" is his term for the study of how the mind grows and develops, what is now called developmental psychology; it does not mean the study of genes. In paragraph 3, "pathological psychology" is his term for the study of mental illness, now part of clinical psychology.

   1That many of the most fruitful researches in this field have been achievements of men nominally biologists rather than psychologists in no wise affects the merits of the case. A similar situation exists in the experimental psychology of sensation where not a little of the best work has been accomplished by scientists not primarily known as psychologists.

   [...]

   2One may speak almost as hopefully of human genetic psychology which has carried on so profitably in our own country. As so often in psychology, the great desideratum here, is the completion of adequate methods which will insure really stable scientific results. But already our general psychological theory has been vitalized and broadened by the results of the genetic methods thus far elaborated. These studies constantly emphasize for us the necessity of getting the longitudinal rather than the transverse view of life phenomena and they keep immediately in our field of vision the basic significance of growth in mental process. [...]

   3The assertions which we have permitted ourselves about genetic psychology are equally applicable to pathological psychology. The technique of scientific investigation is in the nature of the case often different in this field of work from that characteristic of the other ranges of psychological research. But the attitude of the investigator is distinctly functionalistic. His aim is one of a thoroughly vital and generally practical kind leading him to emphasize precisely those considerations which our analysis of the main aspects of functional psychology disclose as the goal of its peculiar ambitions.

   Discuss: (1) In paragraph 1, who does Angell say did much of the best work on animal minds and on sensation? Which kind of connection is that? (2) Paragraph 2 contrasts a "longitudinal" and a "transverse" view of life. Which one follows the same people as they grow, and why would that matter to the study of development? (3) Why would a writer in 1907 bother to say this out loud?

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Sources 4 and 6 on their own and use all six sources for the quiz and homework. Source 4 is a current federal fact sheet on stress; Source 6 is an invented discussion in which five specialists react to the Source 5 study.

   1Life can be stressful—you may feel stressed about performance at school, traumatic events (such as a pandemic, a natural disaster, or an act of violence), or a life change. Everyone feels stress from time to time.

   2What is stress? Stress is the physical or mental response to an external cause, such as having a lot of homework or having an illness. A stressor may be a one-time or short-term occurrence, or it can happen repeatedly over a long time.

   [...]

   3Both stress and anxiety can affect your mind and body. You may experience symptoms such as:
   Excessive worry
   Uneasiness
   Tension
   Headaches or body pain
   High blood pressure
   Loss of sleep

   [...]

   4Learning what causes or triggers your stress and what coping techniques work for you can help reduce your anxiety and improve your daily life. It may take trial and error to discover what works best for you. Here are some activities you can try when you start to feel overwhelmed:
   Keep a journal.
   Download an app that provides relaxation exercises (such as deep breathing or visualization) or tips for practicing mindfulness, which is a psychological process of actively paying attention to the present moment.
   Exercise, and make sure you are eating healthy, regular meals.
   Stick to a sleep routine, and make sure you are getting enough sleep.
   Avoid drinking excess caffeine such as soft drinks or coffee.
   Identify and challenge your negative and unhelpful thoughts.
   Reach out to your friends or family members who help you cope in a positive way.

   5Recognize When You Need More Help

   6If you are struggling to cope, or the symptoms of your stress or anxiety won’t go away, it may be time to talk to a professional. Psychotherapy (also called talk therapy) and medication are the two main treatments for anxiety, and many people benefit from a combination of the two.

   1Invented discussion summary, written for this page. The five specialists are not real people. A school invited five psychologists, each from a different area of the field, to read the speech class study (Source 5) and say what they would want to know next.

   2The biological psychologist: "Every pulse in the study went up before the talk, so the body clearly changed. But a pulse meter cannot tell me why a two-minute talk counts as something to get ready for. For that I need my cognitive colleague."

   3The cognitive psychologist: "I study what people expect and how they interpret a situation. Two students can face the same audience and think very different things about it. I would ask each volunteer what went through their mind in the minute before the talk, and then see whether those thoughts line up with the pulse readings."

   4The developmental psychologist: "Every volunteer was 15 or 16, so the study cannot say whether nerves before a talk grow, fade or stay the same with age. I would compare younger and older students before claiming anything about teenagers in general."

   5The social psychologist: "The audience was the same class of 25 for everyone. I would change the audience, a small group of friends against a larger group of strangers, and see whether the pulse rises by different amounts."

   6The counseling psychologist: "Nerves before a talk are a common part of school life. If worry about speaking ever keeps a student from doing things they want to do, or does not go away, that is a reason to talk with a trusted adult or a professional. To give useful advice I rely on what my four colleagues find out."

   Task: make a five-row table for Source 6 with the headings Specialist, What this specialist can measure or study and What this specialist needs from another area. Quote each specialist once. Then write two sentences: which specialist depends most on the others, and why.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Pick a topic you care about, such as music, sports or friendship. Name two areas of psychology that would both be needed to study it, and say what each one would add."

   Teacher notes. (1) Sources 1-3 are historical. James's 1884 article is a theory supported by everyday examples; in paragraph 4 he himself says the case he describes "proves nothing" and that the hypothesis still has to be "confirmed or disproved." Present it as one historical hypothesis, not as the current account of emotion. (2) The writers use the language of their time: "asylum-physicians" for doctors in mental hospitals, "pathological psychology" for the study of mental illness, and "man" or "men" for people. The same Thorndike article also lists research questions about "race" and "sex" differences in the terms of 1910; those passages are not printed here, and their framing is outdated. (3) Sources 5 and 6 are invented for teaching; their people, numbers and quotations are not real. (4) Source 4 is general health information, not a way to judge any person. If a student raises a personal concern about stress or worry, point them to a trusted adult, such as a parent, school counselor or doctor.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 2, what does James say comes directly after the perception of an exciting fact?

   AThe mental feeling called the emotion BA judgment about what to do next CBodily changes, felt as the emotion DA memory of a similar past event

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 1, paragraph 2, what would a perception be like without the bodily changes that follow it?

   APurely cognitive, without warmth BStronger, because nothing distracts CImpossible, since the senses stop DUnchanged, since emotion comes first

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 4, whom does James say must confirm or disprove his hypothesis?

   APhilosophers who write about the mind BArtists who study bodily expression CPhysiologists who map brain centres DPhysicians who treat nervous patients

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does James conclude in Source 1, paragraph 3, if his hypothesis is true?

   AEmotions are unrelated to the senses BMental life is tied closely to the body CEmotions are learned from the culture DThe brain has a centre for each emotion

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 2, paragraph 3, how does Angell describe pathological psychology compared with other areas of psychology?

   ADifferent methods, same practical aim BSame methods, a different aim COnly methods borrowed from medicine DOld methods that should now be dropped

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 2, paragraph 2, what does Angell say the study of mental growth still needs most?

   AMore children willing to take part BAgreement with structural psychology CA separate journal and society DMethods that give stable results

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Angell say in Source 2, paragraph 2, that studies of mental growth have already done for general psychological theory?

   AReplaced it with new theory BProved its main claims wrong CBroadened and enlivened it DLeft it mostly unchanged

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 3, paragraph 2, what does Thorndike mean when he calls "school-room life" a "vast laboratory"?

   ASchools should become research labs BClass life tests how the mind works CTeachers should run planned trials DStudents learn best in science labs

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which relation between psychology and education does Thorndike say in Source 3, paragraph 2 is "not sufficiently known"?

   AEducation adds to psychology BPsychology helps teachers teach CPhysiology guides school design DLaboratories set school aims

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which value is the mean pulse increase for all twelve volunteers in Source 5?

    A10.7 beats per minute B13.5 beats per minute C16.3 beats per minute D5.7 beats per minute

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which feature of Source 5 most limits the claim that practicing aloud causes a smaller pulse rise?

    APulse was taken at rest only BTalks were of different lengths CRatings were given after talks DVolunteers chose their group

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 6, why does the developmental psychologist say the study cannot answer a question about age?

    AThe study had too few volunteers BAges were not recorded at all CAll volunteers were 15 or 16 DOlder students refused to join

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which example shows applied research feeding basic research, the relation Thorndike describes in Source 3, paragraph 2?

    ACrash records used to study attention BMemory research used to plan test dates CA brain study repeated in a second lab DA teacher survey summarized for parents

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which coping activity in Source 4, paragraph 4 draws most directly on cognitive psychology?

    AExercise and eat regular meals BStick to a sleep routine CAvoid excess caffeine DChallenge unhelpful thoughts

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 5 found that every pulse rose before the talk. Does that support James's thesis in Source 1, paragraph 2? Explain what the data show and one thing they cannot show about his claim.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 4, paragraph 3 lists symptoms of stress. Sort them into mainly bodily and mainly mental, and explain why the list shows that stress belongs to more than one area of psychology.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Angell (Source 2, paragraph 1) and Thorndike (Source 3, paragraph 3) each make a claim about where good psychological knowledge will come from. Compare the two claims.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 6, the social psychologist proposes a new comparison. Describe how the Source 5 study would need to change to test it fairly, and say which area's measure the new study would still borrow.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    The counseling psychologist in Source 6 says, "To give useful advice I rely on what my four colleagues find out." Using Source 4, paragraph 6 and one other source, explain why helping people cope depends on knowledge from other areas.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose two of the four kinds of connection from the lesson. For each, give one example from a different source on this page, with a quotation and paragraph number.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.Psy.17.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.